Power + Media & Power + Consumer
Out of all the lecture that I’ve attended, I would say Julia Crew lecture on Power was the most eye-opening and informative one I’ve attended, which I was not expecting because I was assuming this lecture was just going be about the relationship between fashion and power but instead I got the whole package of new knowledge. Julia talks about the relationship between Power and Fashion, Money, Media, Consumer, Protest and Us. Out of all the section Julia talked about, I found the most interesting was the relationship between Power and Media and Power and Consumer.
As a consumer, we forgot that we hold over 50% of the power in any sort of business however we are so used to the action of the transaction that we don’t realise whom we are actually giving our money to and the effects it has on the environment and the workers creating the items. In Julia’s lecture, she reminded me that we’re blinded by the Price and trends in fashion. Nevertheless, it’s just a moment that we’re going through- it’s not something that we need, it’s something that we want and those wants leads landfill mess and unethical ways of shopping. I don’t know a lot about sustainability nonetheless I do think it’s very important and each of should at least does our part to help clean the mess that we have created. Don’t get wrong, I’m 100% guilty of contributing to the landfill mess, I have the most dangerous type of shopping habit which is if I’m in the mood or having a moment, I buy everything. But now there are so many different ways to shop ethically which can still satisfy the shopping craving. Such as Depop, thrift stores, Love Not Landfill, TRAID etc… If we started spending our money in places like these and less in fast fashion brand, we are reshaping our style of consuming products and brand and business will notice and will listen and change their ways as well.
The topic on Relationship between Power and Media is the most current topic in this lecture and the most relevant as everyone have seen it first-hand. The 21st century is known for the evolution of technology and media and my generation is known for being in the centre of all of it. Social media is one of the most significant, influential and accessible platforms, there are approximately 3.797 billion social media users which means almost 50% of people worldwide use social media such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Naver, Snapchat, Weibo etc… About 200 million users follow at least one fashion account, this essentially means it’s one of the easiest, quickest and cheapest ways for brands to advertise their collection to a wide group of audiences. However, this may be a positive thing for the brands but not so much for us, I’ve always known there’s a dark side to social media and how it affects our Mental Health but in the lecture, Julia highlighted that it also the effect the way we shop which I never realised until now. Currently, there is a huge problem of Over consumptions and the unsustainable side effect of it. We buy 400% more clothing than we did just 20 years ago, 100 billion garments that are produced annually and 75% of those will end up in landfill or be incinerated. After hearing this, it made me recognise that this is more severe than I thought, and it is getting out of hand.
Overall, after attending this lecture I understood that at the end of the day all the power is in our hand, it’s our responsibility to take the first step to change the system so the brands can follow in our footsteps because Brands needs us for them to survive and As a fashion student, I’m reminded and taught about sustainability and issues around it, however, I believe that the general public doesn’t know the level of seriousness of it.